Christmas

Christmas when you are away from family and do not have any children who are old enough to realize what is going on is kinda anticlimactic  For the past three years Pat and I have spent Christmas in the city alone and it is kinda getting old. 

We miss the excitement that little children bring to the holiday and we miss spending time with family. We try to make the most of it, but we are excited for Hunter to become of age so we can teach him the true meaning of Christmas and also get excited for Santa and gifts. 

For Christmas Eve we didn't do anything traditional or special. We ended up watching a really lame 80's movie about a dragon slayer. 

However, Christmas morning was a little more festive and having Pat somewhat made up for the lake of children, as he gets excited for gifts just like little kids do.

This year Pat decided to institute a new tradition with the "Christmas Dagger." He decided that the "Christmas Dagger" would be brought out every Christmas and each person had to open their gifts with the dagger--so that is exactly what we did.

This year for Christmas we also started another tradition of using Pinterest to make our "wish lists."  I for one always have a hard time knowing what to ask for for Christmas (Pat doesn't have any trouble at all). So in order to help in this endeavor we started a private board on Pinterest that only Pat and I could see and pin to. The months leading up to Christmas we would pin miscellaneous items that we wanted that we found on the internet. It is amazing how easily you can find items on the internet that you don't need but want as you surf on a daily basis and if not pinned would be forgotten about minutes later.

Despite the wish lists, we still managed to have some surprise gifts to give one another that the other person would love but did not ask for. For me this was a fake butterfly in a glass mason jar that flies around just like a real butterfly (when I have seen this is stores in the past I am always enamored by them). And for Pat this was International Scout Gear and Thinking Putty.

New shoe smell

The rest of the day was spent chatting with family via video chat over the internet. I am so thankful for the technology we have today. I can't imagine living so far from family and friends without the luxuries of seeing their faces and video chatting online. It makes being away from them bearable and as if we are not missing out on as much.

Also, a new tradition we I (pat was kinda against it) started this year was Christmas Lotto Scratch Off Cards. Even though mormons don't gamble, Santa didn't know better, and gave each one of us a lotto scratch off card. Hunter ended up winning $15 to go towards his college fund!